


A Day In The Lives... (And What A Day It Is!)

by anona



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gender Identity, M/M, teen titans au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-09
Updated: 2015-01-09
Packaged: 2018-03-04 01:46:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2904803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anona/pseuds/anona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the H/L Winter Fic Exchange.  "Teen Titans AU. Can be as crackified as one wishes. Bonus points for side-Ziam or Ziall."</p><p>Four days in the lives of One Direction, the superhero team designated to keep London safe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Day In The Lives... (And What A Day It Is!)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [protagonist_m](https://archiveofourown.org/users/protagonist_m/gifts).



> Previous knowledge of Teen Titans is *not* necessary. Actually, if you're involved with comic or sci-fi fandoms, leave what you know at the door. I reference about a dozen different universes here, because it's way more fun that way. 
> 
> this work features The Wanted as villains and Nick and Eleanor as allies. It also deals with a character identifying as they/them/their.
> 
> Title taken from The New Teen Titans #8 (1981)

                0.

The first thing Louis notices is green eyes.  _Glowing_ green eyes, to be specific.  Some part of Louis realizes he should be reacting, not staring like he’s been hypnotized.  His self-preservation is normally stronger than this.

The boy’s eyes stop glowing and he offers out a cheerful “oops!” and his face splits into a grin.  “You scared the shit out of me!  Or, would have, but I just used the toilet.”

Louis widens his eyes at that bit of incredibly unnecessary information, but mutters a polite “Hi” as he begins to wash his hands. 

“You’re here for the competition!” the boy says, radiating glee.  Louis raises an eyebrow.

“Did my mask give it away?”

The boy laughs loudly at this, and Louis really has no idea how to deal with this.  Armed robbers?  No problem.  Alien monsters?  Sure, with a little help from the Doom Patrol.  Beautiful but strange boys in the toilets?  Apparently not.  He stands straighter to at least give himself the illusion of control, clears his throat, and wishes the boy luck. 

The boy then curtsies and says “Thank you!  May the sun shine brightest on you!” and Louis feels like his eyes have widened three times the size of his head, maybe with one of those oversized teardrops, like a manga character from the shows his sister used to watch.  He nods and finally makes his exit, maybe only kind of sort of walking a little faster than he normally would down the hall.

*

Louis learns quickly that the boy in the toilets was incredibly normal, relatively speaking.  Auditions for London’s first superhero team has brought out some fascinating characters- there’s a lad summoning bouncy balls in a corner, what appears to be a moving mannequin with a mop on his head standing in the middle of the hallway looking lost, a little old lady in all red with a parrot on her shoulder, and several girls, who appear to already be a superhero team dressed in the most impractical costumes Louis could ever imagine, sparring in the cafeteria.

Louis does feel a little silly, being there at all.  He has no intention of not fighting crime if he doesn’t make the cut, but when he heard about Psymon’s plans for a team he had to at least check it out.  He just wishes it didn’t involve an agility course, public speaking, or mental health evaluations.  Louis understands, obviously, but he just wants to fight crime.

His scanner’s been quiet all day, which Louis suspects Psymon had something to do with.  He decides to join the audience watching the others run through the agility course, and his interesting is piqued when he sees the boy from the toilets.

“Hi,” the boy says, dragging out the word.  He introduces himself with a name that is absolutely not of this world, and announces that he is the second-born to the first-in line to the throne of Tamaran.  Louis huffs when Psymon says “Alright, Prince Harry, good luck.”   The boy looks rather put off by this, brow furrowing as he mouths “Prince Harry.”  He doesn’t move at all for a moment, and Louis worries that Psymon just committed a horrible offense that they will all pay dearly for- but then the boy bursts into a grin that Louis is fairly certain literally emits joy. 

To say that Louis is blown away by Prince Harry’s performance would be a tragic understatement.  Louis is confident in his abilities, though they may not be superpowers, and he knows he’s earned every title he has.  But Prince Harry’s grace, even as his eyes are glowing green and he’s calling out a battle cry raw enough to make a nexu whimper, makes Louis question his intended career path and also (embarrassingly considering his uniform) sport a semi.  When Harry completes his tasks, he hovers in the air for several moments, eyes still glowing green, panting.  Slowly he sinks down, his eyes fade to normal, and he takes a bow with a smile fighting to break out on his lips.  Louis feels short of breath.  The crowd is cheering and clapping, and there’s no doubt that he’s made the cut.  

 The reaction to Louis’s own attempt was not as wild, but positive nonetheless.  He’s one of the last of the day, so he contemplates just going home, but he’s really interested in who will get picked.  He also figures he should introduce himself to them, considering they’ll probably work together in the future. 

And then his name is called.

*

(London’s newest superhero team is called One Direction, and the first villain they defeat is a cow.  Psymon arranged to have the five members- Louis, Harry, Liam, Zayn and Niall- stay at a bungalow in the middle of nowhere to get to know each other.  The cow is minding its own business in the adjacent field, but Harry, having never seen one before, is absolutely terrified.  Especially of the rumbling “moos.”  Liam’s the brave soul who leads the cow away from the house, and the rest of the night goes to educating Harry on common Earth animals, via Niall whose ability is transforming into them.  Harry’s exposure to Earth’s atmosphere highlights an aura that puts his emotions on display at all time, but the awe-struck terror upon seeing a pterodactyl even reads on this face.  Being teenage boys, they don’t tell him that he won’t ever have to worry about seeing one in the wild. 

Niall, with mischief in his eyes, suggests they all bring their mattresses into the lounge. Louis believes it’s fate when Harry makes it obvious that he wants his mattress beside Louis’s,  the powerful calmness and amount of hope pouring off Harry makes Louis sleep better than he has since he first put on the mask.)

 

                2.

Louis had scoffed when The Wanted had first started committing crimes-he will never understand why crime syndicates admit that they’re doing illegal things for illegal reasons, but that’s just him, apparently.  They do mostly petty things, some ridiculous media takeovers with no real agenda, staging Thor’s return with a rather small and phony lightning show, pouring beer and piss on random people in the street.  

An anonymous tipster told 1D that The Wanted were planning a bank heist, and Niall had almost stayed in bed because he was absolutely confident they wouldn’t pull it off.  Louis personally agreed with him, but he also wanted to see if this tipster was legitimate.

They send Harry in to scope it out, because somehow with his lion’s mane head of hair and recent obsession with bold-patterned shirts, he’s the most normal looking of the bunch.  Louis can’t help but smile fondly when Harry lets out several bored sighs as he waits in line for a teller, then flirts with the teller, and then transfers money back and forth uselessly at the ATM.  The tip said it would happen at noon, and it’s already half past.  He’s about ready to call the whole thing off - then the safe explodes.

Louis drops down from his perch across the street, with the other lads bursting from their car parked out front.  Harry wheezes and announces that he’s fine over the comms, so the team focuses on getting everyone but The Wanted out.  Louis suspects that there wasn’t actually supposed to be an explosion, because he finds one of the criminals lying on the ground moaning.  Louis cuffs him and sets out to apprehend the others.  The dust is still settling and Louis keeps thinking he sees shadows that aren’t anything, and everyone is coughing and Niall is barking a lot.  Louis can hear Harry start flinging starbolts, then Matt or Mal or whatever laughing before shouting “Missed me, princess!  Where’s your lov-“ but he’s cut off by Harry cursing in Tamaranean and launching a particularly massive starbolt, hopefully right into Max’s chest.  One of the others tries to sneak up on Louis, incorrectly assuming that Harry’s altercation was a distraction.  Louis knocks him out with maybe a little extra force, and then glances over at Zayn rolling his eyes and casting a spell on the final member who is trying to leave using the front door.   One Direction were officially told to never use excessive force, but Louis is rather proud of their work, considering Max is on his way to the A&E, and the others are either still groaning, out cold, or in a full-body bind that will wear off in, Zayn’s words, “About a week.”

As soon as they’re back at the Tower, Louis and Liam set out to track down the anonymous tipster.  Harry is unusually quiet and excuses himself to go sit on the roof, which isn’t entirely out of the ordinary, considering the sun is the source of his strength.  Something is off about his aura, however, but Louis leaves him be, confident Harry will speak when he’s ready. 

They have zero luck tracking down the lead, because all possible traces point to it coming from a literal, actual rock on the University of Manchester campus.  Harry does come inside once it starts to get dark, but doesn’t join the rest of them on the couches.  He just stays off to the side, hands behind his back and bottom lip between his teeth. 

It’s Zayn who finally asks, “Alright, Haz?” aiming for casual but he’s definitely concerned. 

“Why am I a boy?” Harry asks, after a long pause. 

Liam snickers.  “Because you’re sure as hell not a girl, mate.”

Harry’s frown only deepens at this.  “But why am I not a girl?”

Louis cuts off whatever Liam is about to say, because he’s fairly confident Liam has absolutely no idea how to handle this properly.  Neither does Louis, actually.  But he’s pretty sure Liam is handling it incorrectly.

“On Tamaran, we are only _ɔᶕk_.  We do not have genders, so I am not a boy or a girl, but I am called a boy here, and I do not like it anymore.”

“Humans have decided to define people solely by their role in reproducing,” Niall says, not even pausing his and Louis’s FIFA match.  “Sorry ‘bout that, mate.  Really, you don’t have to be either, or you can be both.  Or you can be something else.”  He wins the game, and then finally turns to the rest of them, who are all staring at him, surprised.  He scoffs.   “I’ve spent my entire life being called ‘it”.  I know a thing or two about not identifying with what’s considered ‘normal.’”  He then focuses his attention back on Harry.  “What would you like us to call you, Harry?   Are you still comfortable with ‘Harry’?”

“Yes!” Harry replies quickly, almost defensively.   “I am still Harry.  I just do not want to be a boy, and I do not want ‘girl’ to be used as an insult!”

Zayn huffs with a smile, tongue behind his teeth.  “Think you made that clear to Max earlier, love.”  Zayn is watching Harry carefully, and Louis catches something unreadable in Zayn’s eyes and so Louis wonders if he’s ever had the same question.  Honestly, beyond Louis’s sister’s teammate’s older brother who is now goes by Emma, Louis doesn’t really have any experience analyzing or defining human gender identity.  He’s also, embarrassingly, never considered what Niall must have put up with before using his abilities to save the city.  Louis has spent his entire life wishing for superpowers, and he’s suddenly incredibly grateful he crafted his own talents and identity.  The anguish laced through Harry’s aura confirms that he’s damn lucky.

“So what would you like to be called?” Niall repeats.  “Would you like some suggestions?  Or do you want to research on your own?”

Louis feels the sudden urge to kiss Niall.  He knows Liam was handling this wrong, and now knows he would have handled it wrong as well. 

Harry contemplates, still chewing his lip.  “Would you… help me research?” he asks Niall finally, hesitantly, clearly wringing his hands behind his back. 

“Absolutely,” Niall says, getting up and wrapping an arm around Harry.  Louis stares after them for what feels like an hour, regretting not saying anything, despite not having a clue what he _would_ say given the opportunity.  Finally Liam asks him to pass over a controller.  Louis is trying to disguise how antsy he’s feeling, upset that he still doesn’t know what to say even if Harry and Niall came back.  Zayn eventually suggests they all get some rest, tapping a reassuring hand on Louis’s shoulder before he and Liam leave for their room.  Louis doesn’t even bother trying to sleep, especially after Niall texts him " _Harry’s gona crash with me tnight, nothing to worry about !"_   Harry and Louis’s bed is massive to begin with, and Louis doesn't feel like slipping into it alone, so he works out instead, training until he’s absolutely spent and collapsed to the wrestling mat, falling asleep instantly.

 

                3.

Louis wouldn’t ever admit it, but he’s pretty sure the smell of bacon is what wakes him up more than his mum calling his name does.  He grins, giddy with excitement- it’s his birthday! But he swings his feet out of bed and his toes are on cold tile, not worn carpet, and he feels the world stop and shift around him.  He forces himself to breathe, shake off the dream, and remember that his birthday isn’t a thing anymore, not when he’s a superhero.  He takes a deep breath, and hears his mum calling him again.

Louis dives for his comm, hands shaky as he calls Harry.  “It is a good morning!” Harry shouts, and even though it’s tinny Louis can hear people laughing in the background.  

“I need you to come here,” he whispers. 

“Okay!” Harry shouts, a grin obvious in their voice.  Louis is freaking out.  Why isn’t Harry picking up on it?  Harry ends the call, and Louis brings his feet up onto his bed, resting his forehead on his knees, trying to control his breathing.

His door opens and the light flickers on, but Harry doesn’t come to their bed.  Louis finally looks up to see why, and, well, it’s not Harry standing there, it’s his mum.  They stare at each other for a moment, until she says “Oh Louis,” pronouncing the ‘s’ like when he was little, then she’s crosses the room and wraps him in her arms.

Louis is frozen.  This can’t be happening.  He’s spent years ensuring she’ll never find him.  She’s not saying anything, just holding him close, and Louis _has_ to react when he gets a whiff of her perfume.  He buries himself into her hug, not knowing what to say, hoping she doesn’t hate him.

Eventually, Harry’s voice fills the room.  “Surprise!” they shout, their voice ringing with joy.  Louis pulls away from his mum to look at Harry, who looks so proud of themselves that Louis’s chest aches.

“On Tamaran, on the day we are born, we do not celebrate ourselves.  We celebrate the one who gave birth to us!” Harry explains, entering the room.  “So I made sure we could celebrate both!”  Harry settles down on the bed beside Louis and wraps their arms around Louis and his mum. 

“I wish you would’ve warned me,” Louis mutters.  “I thought I was going mad.”

Jay laughs and puts her hand on her son’s thigh.  “Your Zayn was worried you’d react badly, but I think we all know you wouldn’t have let me in if you knew.”  

Louis’s heart aches, because she is absolutely correct.  He’s so, so happy to see her again, but he’s also furious with his team for putting her in danger like this.  He’d spent years making sure he’s untraceable, and they’ve completely disregarded that just to celebrate his birthday of all things.

“Oh love,” his mum sighs, resting her hand on the crown of his head and kissing his temple.  “I can feel you thinking too much.  Your friends have been careful, don’t you worry about it.”

Louis huffs a laugh.  He takes a moment to calm down, to just let himself accept the fact he’s currently nestled between the two people in the world who mean the absolute most to him.  He decides to let himself have this day.  One day to be selfish, safety of the city be damned.  It’s his birthday, damn it.

“Niall has probably eaten all of the bacon,” Harry mutters, breaking them out of their silence.  “But he promised to save you some pancakes.  Shall we go eat them?”

Louis laughs, and agrees.  Harry chats to them the whole way down to the kitchen, complimenting their home in Doncaster and telling them about the palace on Tamaran.  Louis could never have prepared himself for the sight of the Tower’s main room: balloons, streamers, confetti everywhere, three types of cakes, a banner that says _HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOUIS_ and another, clearly hand-made, _WELCOME JOHANNA HONOURED GUEST!_ and Louis can’t control his grin.  The other boys swarm him in a jumbled hug that’s a mess of limbs and shouts, and he can hear his mum laughing at them.  He shouts “pancakes!” to get them all off him and sprints to the oven, his socks sliding on the linoleum, ensuring this will actually be a perfect day.

*

Louis has to admit that 1D have been careful.  All the windows are blacked out, but all the lightbulbs replaced with ones that imitate sunlight.  Liam’s wearing an utterly ridiculous cardigan to hide his robotic parts, Niall’s not shifted even once, and Zayn is actually walking instead of his preferred levitating.  Louis knows it’s all in vain; Niall is still green, Harry still has absolutely no control over their aura, and it’s fairly obvious that they’re living in an industrial building, but he appreciates the effort all the same.

Louis also sees the smile playing on his mum’s lips all day, and knows that she knows where she is and who these people are, but she isn’t saying anything.  He truly appreciates that, and he appreciates their comms staying dead all day.

It’s early afternoon when the door opens and Eleanor enters, her heavy boots the only sound in the Tower over everyone’s stunned silence.  Niall scrambles up to greet her before she can see Jay, but she brushes past him with a kiss and throws herself down on the couch, closing her eyes and groaning about how much snow London has. 

“El,” Niall says, urgently.  “Remember the thing I said about ‘can you please cover for us today, we need a day just us’?”

Eleanor cracks on eye open.  “Yeah?  And there’s nothing to cover.  Christmas Eve in London is boring.  I mean,” she says, opening her eyes and sitting forward.  “Talking people off buildings is important and gratifying, obviously, but it’s no escaped killer robot from Mars, is it?”

“Eleanor,” Niall says, more urgently. 

“Ugh, fine,” El says, standing up.  She bends down to give Louis a kiss in the forehead and wishes him “happy birthday,” then asks “Who’s Johanna?  Liam, did you get a new turtle?  That seems like a good name for a turtle.”

The team stays absolutely silent, because this is more intense and scary than an escaped killer robot from Mars.  Eleanor doesn’t see Jay. 

“Alrighty then, you’re all weird.  I’m going to go _save people’s lives_ while you sit in shit lighting being weird.”  She gives Niall a kiss on her way out, and when the door falls shut beside her, the boys all turn to Jay, who bursts out laughing.

“Oh, Louis!” she says, eyes wet from laughing too hard.  “You really didn’t think your impulse to become a superhero came from nothing, did you?”

Louis is speechless.  “What?”

Jay’s still laughing, but softer.  “Honey, every member of this family’s got something.  You’re just the only one who’s done something with it, and I am so proud of you,” she says, pressing her forehead into his.

Niall sits down, looking very embarrassed.  “I’m sorry, Eleanor doesn’t… really have a filter, I’m sorry she said your name sounded like a turtle’s.”

Jay laughs again.  “My girls have named their hamster after her, I’m not that bothered.”

After that, they lose track of time talking, catching up, and swapping stories of their adventures with superpowers.  Finally Jay glances at her watch and curses, because it’s late and she should probably head home to sleep before her family wakes up and wants to open presents.  She hugs all the members of One Direction tightly, whispering things just for them in their ears.  She of course lingers longest on Louis, and Louis melts into her hug, inhaling her perfume.  “This isn’t goodbye, do you understand me, Louis William?” she says firmly, squeezing him tight.  

Louis takes a deep breath.  “Yes,” he promises, and he’s so relieved when they pull apart and his Mum’s grinning.  

She accepts her blindfold with grace, and hooks her arm in Liam’s as they walk towards the door.   Louis watches Liam hesitate, but Jay puts her other hand on his arm in reassurance.  Liam smiles a smile that has more emotion behind it than Louis can begin to decipher, and he wishes them a safe journey.  Harry stands behind Louis and calls out the same phrase in Tamaranean that they mutter before every journey, so Louis assumes it’s a blessing.  Once the door’s shut, Niall lets loose one last confetti canon and shouts “Happy Birthday!”  Louis curses and flails at Niall, who grins and shouts “that’s what you get for not telling us when it was for _three years.”_

“Fair enough,” Louis resigns, and they all plop down on the couches.  “How did you even find out?  How did you find my _mum_?”

“Nick helped me!” Harry replies eagerly, grinning wide and putting their arm around Louis, drawing him into their chest.  

Niall winks, picking up someone’s abandoned piece of cake.  “’Martian Manhunter’ isn’t just a gay joke, mate.”

(He texts Nick later with “thanks for completely ignoring my request for privacy” and Nick replies “Harry’s happiness is infinitely more important to me than your superhero complex.  Infinitely.  Happy birthday, vtẁ _ẃ_ g şut diʞm žþ⁰•” and Louis doesn’t know if the last part is well-wishes or an insult, but he has to begrudgingly respect Nick’s predilection.  Harry’s aura is glowing even as they rest, so Louis kisses their temple and whispers _thank you_ , and goes to sleep.)

 

 

                5.

Harry cannot wait to see their friends again.  Mostly, they cannot wait to tell them about how Harry is being _kept in the dark_.  They’re not being told anything _and_ they’re being kept in a windowless room!   They know that their friends tend to groan when they find loopholes in English, but they also know the laughter in their eyes. 

They also just really want to see their friends again.  Harry hadn’t realized being kidnapped would be so boring.  They foolishly used up all their ultraviolet stores in their initial desperate attempt to escape (or at least get to Zayn) so they are utterly useless.  They cannot even properly meditate without Zayn’s soothing presence.  It’s unbearably boring. 

Harry had been presented in front of many cameras and told the world they were eager to begin a solo career of super villainy, but that was The Source putting words in their mouth.  They wish they were out committing crimes, because then there would be the opportunity to see Louis.  And the rest of One Direction, of course.   Minus Zayn.  Harry frowns, hoping that Zayn is alright.  Zayn does like to be alone, so perhaps this is doing him some good.   It’s certainly not doing Harry any good.  They actually sleep for the first time since they arrived on Earth, because without the sun they’re not feeling very well.

They’re not quite sure where they are being held, but it does have some alarmingly thin walls.  Most of what they hear is in a language they don’t understand, but they’re also confident they’re still on Earth.  They have no idea how long it’s been, but it’s almost calming to hear shouting in English, even if the person shouting is obviously upset.  Judging by the volume of the person’s shouts, they’re getting closer, and they sound just outside Harry’s room when they use Harry’s name.  Harry’s straining, trying to figure out what’s happening, and then they hear it: “əōc̓Hx‽” which means it’s Nick.  Or, at least, a Martian asking where the royal child is.  Harry’s confident that it’s Nick, though, when they hear him call someone a barbarian. Harry calls Nick’s name to let him know that they can hear him- just as the outer wall to their room falls away.  Harry cries out and covers their eyes because the sun is very bright after sitting in the dark for a long time.

The person is initially silhouetted, but then they shout “Sorry!” It’s Eleanor, who hugs Harry quickly, then mutters “I’m sorry, but we really have to go,” and takes their hand, leading them to the hole blown through the outer wall. 

They take their hand back and hiss “I am not going anywhere without Zayn!”  Eleanor grabs their wrist again and says “Where the fuck do you think the others are?  Come on.”  She jumps onto the rock she left floating outside and Harry goes to follow, but then pales.  They may have not left Earth, but they have certainly left London.  It is a long way down, straight to the ocean.  Eleanor calls their name and they follow her on the rock, immediately sitting down because this is their least favourite way to travel.  Eleanor is a risk-taker when navigating flying boulders and it is absolutely terrifying.  Harry closes their eyes and focuses on the sunlight hitting their skin.  There are definitely nearby explosions and when they risk peeking one eye open, a quick sweep tells Harry that _every single superhero they know_ are there, and that they are losing.  There are several additional holes blown through the building- “We had some difficulty finding you,” Eleanor calls over the noise from the battle.  “Harry, are you well enough to join?”

Harry’s answer, of course, is to leap off the rock and jump into the thick of it.  Eleanor shouts their name, obviously trying to call him back, but they ignore her.  They have to find Zayn.  It’s clear the Paps are here- Harry runs past too many of their friends who are frozen, mid-stance, caught temporarily in a Photog.  Thankfully, most of the Sources are bound and gagged, but the Wreckless are about, causing chaos, and The ReTouchers are effectively confusing the shit out of the heroes, putting them in situations they weren’t in moments ago.  Harry has yet to find any member of One Direction, and they’re getting frantic, taking out as many villains as they can manage while trying to find their team.  Harry can hear their name being called, and it’s Nick, waving frantically and motioning for them to join him.

“Where is Zayn?” Harry shouts as soon as they think Nick is in earshot.  Nick just waves his arm, instructing them to move left, and then the ground is gone from under them. 

“Harry!” Niall yells, running over and helping them up.  “Took you fucking long enough,” he says, pushing Harry into the darkness. 

“Zayn?” Harry shouts, too focused to even acknowledge Niall.

“Haz,” Zayn replies, and Harry feels the weight of a thousand worlds lifted off their shoulders.  Zayn sounds rough, but he’s here and he’s alive.  Harry wraps their arms around Zayn and they barely get a moment before Liam is briefing them on the plan.  It involves a lot more explosions, relying on Harry and Zayn’s powers, and Niall correcting Liam’s suggesting that he turn into an elephant.  “The building’s probably not going hold all of us much longer, never mind an elephant joining the fun,” he reasons.  He announces he’ll become a goose, so he can fly and be “motherfucking vicious”.

Louis and Liam will focus on kicking as much ass as they can, apparently.  They pause for a moment, just looking at each other and preparing themselves.  Then Nick shouts “Hello?!” in a way only Nick can, both genuinely worried and proper exasperated, so Harry grabs Louis, Zayn grabs Liam, and Niall morphs and they burst into battle.  Harry fleetingly imagines the five of them with a theme song.

Zayn finds Perrie, and the two set about casting as many destructive spells as they can, with the rest of Little Mix running forward to make sure the heroes are where they’re safe and the villains are where they’re doomed.  Niall focuses his efforts on the Wreckless, and Liam focuses on minor EMPs to disrupt the ReTouchers’s ability to alter the situation.   Louis sets out catching the Paps in their own Photog, posing for them with a smile and cackling every time they fall for it, the compact mirror he grabbed off Aimee enough to reflect the flash right back.  Aimee and Nick are yelling a lot to drown out The Sources, and then grinning gleefully when they wrap them up and silence them. 

Harry does as instructed: blows things up.  More heroes are unfreezing from Photogs and more Paps are going down, especially considering Cara has shown up and Paps are her specialty.  The heroes slowly gaining ground, but Harry is feeling an odd tiredness.  Then someone pinches his bum, and he turns around, confused and upset, but of course it’s a grinning Louis, who quickly pecks Harry on the lips before running off laughing.  _That_ wakes Harry up, and they take out three Wreckless with one starbolt, and a quick survey of the scene indicates that they heroes have won.

*

(The Media are every superhero’s arch nemesis, so the party that night at the Tower is absolutely appropriate.  Psymon even calls to congratulate them. 

However, everyone still has to be home to protect their cities in the morning, so it’s fairly early when One Direction find themselves all cuddled on one couch, bone-tired but content.  Niall’s the first to mumble something about making sure Eleanor got home safe, then Zayn and Liam start kissing a little too enthusiastically so Louis makes a quip about no stains on the couch and pulls Harry back to their bedroom.

As soon as the door is shut, Harry wraps their arms around Louis and manhandles him across the room, laughing as Louis squawks indignantly and loses his balance onto the bed. 

“Oops!” Harry beams, tucking his face into Louis’s neck. 

“Hi,” Louis replies, kissing the top of Harry’s head.  “I missed you.”

Harry giggles.  “Today was so exciting, I almost forgot we had been kidnapped.”

Louis squeezes Harry’s waist.  “Love you, ØvĿ Harry,” he says.  No matter how many times Harry tries to teach him, Louis cannot pronounce a single Tamaranean word, Harry’s official title included.  Harry still appreciates the effort, however.

“Love you too, Louis.”)


End file.
